Fire station unveiled at Public Safety Open House

BY BRUCE S. BAKER, CHAIRMAN STERLING FIRE STATION BUILDING COMMITTEE

Chief David Hurlbut in the new station. Steve King photo The Sterling Police and Fire Departments will be holding a Public Safety Open House at the new Sterling Fire Station this Saturday, October 8. Police, fire and emergency medical equipment will be on display and the recently completed fire station will be open for public viewing. The open house begins with a dedication of the new station at 10 a.m. and continues with tours and events until 2 p.m. Events for all ages are scheduled, including the SAFE House, Smokey Bear and Sparky the Fire Dog and a demonstration of automobile extrication using hydraulic rescue tools. The Sterling Police Department will be demonstrating some of its equipment and conducting child safety seat inspections on request. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation will also have equipment on display. Refreshments will be served throughout the day.

This is the first opportunity for the public to see Sterling’s new fire station, which replaces an overcrowded and obsolete facility that previously occupied the same site located in the center of town at 5 Main St. In addition to significantly larger apparatus bays, the new station contains facilities to support modern firefighting and rescue and emergency medical operations. The training room is designed to serve as an emergency operations center during major disasters, both local and regional in scope.

Dedication of the new station comes after a sevenyear effort that started with the Town Building Needs Committee, which began the process. The station’s final design and construction has been overseen by the Fire Station Building Committee which took over from the Building Needs Committee. The committee is particularly indebted to Arthur French, who served from the committee’s inception until his death last year, for his insistence that the building’s appearance enhance the center of town. We believe that he would be very proud of the result.

The Building Committee particularly wants to thank the following who have made significant donations to this project: Geosearch for providing rent-free garage facilities for fire apparatus at its garage on Chocksett Road for the past 14 months; Sterling Municipal Light Department for donating space for the fire department’s two ambulances, also for 14 months; the Sterling Board of Selectmen and Old Town Hall Committee for providing office and storage space at the Old Town Hall; and Sterling I-190 Storage for donating storage facilities. In addition Kitchen Associates installed kitchen counters at no charge and kitchen cabinets were installed by firefighters.

The committee is also indebted to the general contractor, Construction Dynamics, for a very smooth and responsive construction process. Special thanks go to Fire Chief David Hurlbut, who has been tireless in ensuring that the fire department functioned smoothly and effectively during construction and seeing to it that the building is something that the town can be proud of. And finally, we are most grateful to the voters of Sterling, town officials and town departments for their support and help in making the new station a reality.